Floor refinishing, the edger

So, once we got done with the 36 grit at a diagonal and then 36 straight with the drum sander, it was time to move on to other grits. But the thing about drum sanders, and part of the reason we decided to go with an orbital is that the drum sander can't get close to the walls or in tight spaces (orbitals can). So you and entirely different piece of equipment called an edger to get in the tight spaces. Now, what we didn't know is that "edger" is code for "torture device". They look sort of innocuous, kind of like a shiny, spaceship on wheels

The thing is, they weigh, like 50 lbs. Or maybe not 50, but a lot. And you aren't supposed to press down on them, and they are only about 2 ft off the ground, so what you end up with is a hunched over process where you are trying to keep the thing moving while balancing precariously. I tried it, Matt tried it, it was hard, really hard. And with 36 grit, you can really mess up the floor because the disc spins in one direction and you can "dish out" the floor in a circular pattern. Especially if you are moving against the grain, which inevitably you have to do in the places where the floor butts into the wall (as opposed to the places where the boards go along the wall). But, then Jimmy to the rescue. And let me tell you, he was awesome at it. our book recommended a J patter where you use the edger to go with the grain as far as possible and then turn at the last possible second next to the wall at the butt ends. Dad was a real trooper because he basically did 80-90% of the edging. And with 100 square feet, three bedrooms, 5 closets, a living room, and a dining room, that's a lot of edging.

After that, all that was left was the very extremes of the corners, which you get to either with a hand held scraper or a triangular sandpaper head for a multi tool (we used both, and they each had advantages). Scrapers are basically hand held razor blades that you, yes, scrap against the floor. The advantage is that you can really feel what you are doing and easily control the blade. But it's hard word. The one we got looked basically like this:

You basically put one hand on the handle, and one hand on the knob, and the angle and pressure control how much you take off.
The triangular sander on the other hand, makes short work of anything, but its really easy to go too far and take off too much (or at least that's what Mom said because honestly, she did all of the work with the multi-tool) Do I have amazing parents? Yes, absolutely.